Preface
The laser now plays a most important role in processing materials and also in the development of new materials. This special issue covers the papers presented in the 3rd International Conference on Lasers and Plasma Applications in Materials Science 2015 (LAPAMS 2015), held from the 15th to the 17th January 2015 in Kolkata, India. This special issue contains fifteen peer reviewed papers covering laser machining (cutting and micro-turning), welding, forming, laser material deposition (LMD), surface melting and pulsed laser deposition. The contributions from the authors of all these papers are gratefully acknowledged. Needless to mention that without the time and efforts spent by the reviewers, this special issue would not have been presented in this form.
The application of lasers in materials science and materials processing encompasses a wide range of technologies with the main theme based on the laser beam as a source of heat to modify microstructure and composition for the tailoring of properties or the processing of components. The laser beam offers several advantages over conventional processing routes, like faster processing speed, refinement and homogenization of microstructure, narrow heat affected zone (HAZ), and attainment of metastable microstructures. Clearly, there is immense scope in this field and all of the papers in this special issue represent original developments in laser materials processing and serve to motivate the reader to consider further research problems in this direction. Finally, we wish this special issue to be successful, popular and useful to the engineers, scientists and researchers in the fields of laser materials processing, materials science and engineering, and manufacturing technology.
Prof. Jyotsna Dutta Majumdar and Prof. I. Manna
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
Prof. J. Lawrence
University of Chester, UK